Spoiler alert: Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival returns

Jeff Smith, left, and Sara Parrell will host the 3rd annual Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival this weekend in Brea. Attendees are invited to tour the Sinister Pointe haunted attraction then view two horror films on opening night.GREG ANDERSEN, FOR THE REGISTER

If you assume that a movie about a group of sorority sisters spending a wild weekend in an isolated cabin in the woods is going to end in lingerie and a pillow fight, you’re at the wrong film festival.

“Kill Her, Not Me” will have its world premiere this weekend at the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea, so you can pretty much figure out what happens to those sorority sisters. They die.

But they probably will suffer amusing deaths because the annual Orange County-based festival, now in its third year, is a celebration of horror with a sense of humor. In fact, it’s not even as bloody as it sounds. Festival organizers Jeff Smith and Sara Parrell, who met while working at Disneyland, estimate (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) that the death rate in their festival’s movies is only about 88 percent. But that’s an average – some casts don’t fare as well as others.

This year, 15 films will be showcased at the three-day festival, held at the Brea Plaza 5 Cinema on Associated Road. Of that total, there are 10 shorts and five feature-length films, including “Kill Her, Not Me,” which was written and directed by George Francisco, and stars Elizabeth Guest and horror legend Tony “Candyman” Todd.

“It’s a great title,” Smith said in explaining why he and Parrell selected “Kill Her, Not Me” out of more than 200 films that were submitted for festival inclusion. It will close the festival on Sunday night.

“It also had enough of the spirit of the ’80s horror movies that we love, while not being exactly like all those ’80s horror movies that we love. We’ve all seen cabin-in-the-woods movies, but this movie takes the typical cabin-in-the-woods story and turns it on its ear. To explain any further would spoil the movie. You’ll have to see it yourself.”

“Kill Her, Not Me” is Francisco’s first feature-length film, and the director said he shot it in just 12 days in Big Bear with a budget of less than $150,000 (minuscule by Hollywood standards).

“With that budget and such a short shooting schedule, there is no room for waste, so when we got 12 inches of unexpected snow up there, I had to write the snow into the script at the last minute,” explained Francisco, who was better-known as a screenwriter and documentary filmmaker before he started directing horror flicks. “I didn’t have the luxury of waiting for the snow to melt.”

After the movie was completed, Francisco said he and producer Peter McAlevey looked around for the right film festival.

“The Everybody Dies Film Festival just seemed like the right fit for us,” the director said. “And we certainly qualified. I killed everybody in my cast.”

Parrell, one of the festival’s co-directors, said “Kill Her, Not Me” seemed to fit perfectly into the scope of the festival, even though it broke one of the festival’s cardinal rules of bad horror movies.

“Yes, it opens in the woods, and normally Jeff and I don’t like horror movies that open in the woods, but this was different. This was a really good cabin-in-the-woods horror film. It had the right tone for our festival because it’s fun despite all the mayhem. We wanted to end the festival on a light note, and this was the right movie. And we’re all huge Tony Todd fans.”

Parrell, a professional event planner when she’s not planning film festivals for fun, and her partner Smith, who still works at the Happiest Place on Earth, didn’t get into the festival business to make money or to become Hollywood power brokers. In fact, they decided to get into the business of film festivals after their experience of trying to peddle their own horror spoof – “Stupid Teenagers Must Die!”

“We’re just a couple of people in Orange County who are having a lot of fun,” she said. “This is about building a sense of community and making friends. That’s why we don’t judge our films. We don’t want this to be another cutthroat Hollywood event. We all love film, and we support each other. This is just a party for people who love these types of films.”

Although the festival organizers don’t hand out awards from a distinguished panel of judges, there are several audience-generated awards for favorite films.

The first year of the festival, Parrell and Smith said they lost money. Last year, they broke even. This year, they expect to lose money again, even though the festival has attracted a record number of submissions, and is expected to draw its biggest crowds to date.

The reason, according to Parrell, is that the festival has expanded from two days to three days this year. On Friday, the festival will be held at nearby Sinister Pointe in Brea, a year-round haunted attraction. Ticket holders will have access to the attraction before watching the festival’s first two films.

Jeff Smith, left, and Sara Parrell will host the 3rd annual Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival this weekend in Brea. Attendees are invited to tour the Sinister Pointe haunted attraction then view two horror films on opening night. GREG ANDERSEN, FOR THE REGISTER
"Kill Her, Not Me" features sorority girls in a cabin in the woods. Things don't end well for the group. The film will have its world premiere Sunday at the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
"The Gauntlet" will be screened Saturday at this weekend's Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
"Raptor Ranch" will be screened Friday as part of the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
"The Gauntlet" will be screened Saturday at this weekend's Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
Lorenzo Lamas stars in "Raptor Ranch." It will be screened Friday at the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
Actor Tony Todd, who you might recognize as The Candyman, plays a detective in "Kill Her, Not Me." It will be screened Sunday night at the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
A scene from "Raptor Ranch." It will be screened Friday at the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
Tony Todd is shown in a scene from "Kill Her, Not Me." It will be screened Sunday at the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
A scene from "Kill Her, Not Me." It will be screened Sunday at the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
George Francisco directs actress Elizabeth Guest in a scene from "Kill Her, Not Me." It will be screened Sunday at the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival in Brea.
Sara Parrell, left, and Jeff Smith will host the 3rd annual Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival this weekend in Brea. Attendees are invited to tour the Sinister Pointe haunted attraction then view two horror films on opening night. GREG ANDERSEN, FOR THE REGISTER

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